Oct 30, 2003 - 12:00 am .- While receiving 21 Filipino bishops in their Ad Limina visit, Pope John Paul highlighted the need for an “integral evangelization” aimed at permeating society with Christian values. The Pope said that “the pledge of the Church in the Philippines to engage in renewed integral evangelization demonstrates her desire to ensure that Christian faith and values permeate every aspect of society.

Oct 30, 2003 - 12:00 am .- The Vatican Pontifical academies will hold their eighth joint public session on Thursday, November 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Vatican's New Synod Hall. The joint session will be focused on the theme “The Martyrs and Monuments to their Memories, Living Stones in the Building of Europe.”

Oct 30, 2003 - 12:00 am .- Pro-life activists say U.S. President George Bush is still on-target when it comes to issues regarding the culture of life, despite a comment he made at a press conference Oct. 28 that the U.S. is not yet ready to ban all forms of abortion.

Oct 30, 2003 - 12:00 am .- Political and civil organization that make up the opposition in Venezuela held a rally this Wednesday in support of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the country, which has been the subject of verbal attacks by top government officials.

Oct 30, 2003 - 12:00 am .- In an interview with the Tarragona Daily in Spain, the Minister General of the Franciscan Order, Fr. José Rodríguez Carballo, said “a real danger exists that the Church could disappear from the Holy Land” and that “the Franciscans could wind up being custodians of a pile of stones.”